The Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta takes place every two years, and each edition seems to grow both in status and in the number of boats competing. Between 11-14 July 500 boats competed in 34 classes. Did any of the classes stand out beyond the others?
The Black sails of Cruiser 1 Class were distinctive. The striped topsails of the Howth 17 foot one design encouraged the viewer to seek out an ice-cream stall. Some of the Seabird half-raters and Trearddur Bay Myths and the Classic Keelboats sported coloured sails, but the mace coloured sailed of the Squibs made them a distinctive entire fleet. On Thursday Squibs raced on the windward-leeward Centre course. In light winds, the recently acquired ‘Crackertoo’ sailed by Jeff Kay from Howth won by a good margin. Could he dominate the series to become the ‘Boat of the Regatta’?
On an overcast, Friday Squibs moved to the South Course which utilised the permanent Dublin Bay marks. ‘The Backstop’ sailed by Jill Fleming and Vincent Delany dominated the day with three first places in an 18-20 knot wind.
On a sunny Saturday with the light northerly winds on the windward-leeward North Course Rupert and Rory Westrup in ‘Sidewinder’ swopping helm and crewing positions as the race progressed won the first race, ‘The Backstop’ won race two, and ‘Sidewinder’ won race three to show her aspiration to win the series.
On Sunday there was a fading breeze, resulting in only one race being sailed on the ‘South Course’. This time ‘The Backstop’ held the lead from beginning to end to win the 8 race series with 9 points, compared with ‘Sidewinder’ on 12 points and ‘Crackertoo’ on 26 points.
